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Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Empire: Demigryphs Wip 2 & OOP Dragon!

Demigryph mounts are nearing completion this week, which means I can work on the riders over the bank holiday weekend - three days of solid painting, can't wait! The photos came out really bad this time round and do not show the depths of red I have put into the barding, something I will need to consider when I do the Gallery shots. I honestly can't see these figures taking much longer, as all that is left to do is highlight the demigryph skin, golds and feathered mane. It has been a long time since I have painted gold the 'GW' way so I expect to lose some time playing with the palette, will be fun non the less.

So I managed to pick up another OOP Citadel bargain, this time from 1985...

Despite having been a collector for 25 years, I have little in the way of retro/old stuff to show for. This is down to a number of 'hobby purges' I have done. While most of my older friends see this as a major miniature crime, at the time I had no choice due to space and the need to finance new projects. There are of course some items I look back on with nostalgia and think 'I wish I had kept that', and one such item will probably stay out of reach for a long time - The Emperor Dragon, which I got for my 11th birthday; the other however, is now back in my collection. While many see this as an ugly sculpt, I am actually really fond of it (no idea why) and is quite surprising how alien a large heavy metal miniature feels after so many years of working with GW plastic and resin.

The Great Imperial Dragon has been a gap in my collection for at least 20 years and it really it nice to see this model on the desk after so many years. It is in fantastic condition, with only a thin bit of paint on it and is complete with skull, and if I finish the Demigryp Knights early I intend to work on it during the remainder of the weekend. Of course these days I am not in the habit of making shelf queen pieces, and this still applies to nostalgia pieces such as the Imperial Dragon, there needs to be a use for it, it I ever intend to get it fully painted. So with this in mind I have decided to change my Empire list around (again), dropping the celestial Hurricanum to incorporate a second level 2 Amber Wizard. This is in order to select the Transformation of Kadon spell. I know, I know, bad choices all around, but quite frankly, if it gives me the chance to put this great model on the table, then I will take it! I decided early on that I will not be chopping any of it up to accommodate a Karl Franz model, It will be left as is.

Well that's quite enough nostalgia for another week, who knows what next week will bring!